Philadelphia at Orlando (-7, 203 ½)
The Sixers have won six of their last seven games, pulling themselves into the Eastern Conference playoff race. They travel to Florida on the back of one of their biggest wins of the season.
Philly routed the Knicks 124-84 Wednesday night, covering the spread for the ninth time in 11 games. The Sixers scored 72 points in the first half and had nine steals in the first quarter alone.
They face a much tougher contest against Orlando, but recent form suggests they have every chance of at least covering the spread. Philly has covered in four of its last five games against the Magic and the visiting team is 7-1 ATS in the last eight meetings.
Pick: Philadelphia
Dallas at Memphis (+8, 197)
Jason Kidd’s Dallas debut wasn’t exactly the stuff of legend, but things should improve now that he has a game under his belt. The Mavs were beaten 104-93 by New Orleans Wednesday night and the best guard on show was actually the Hornets’ Chris Paul.
Kidd had eight points, six rebounds and five assists in just over 36 minutes on the court, but there were some flashes of things to come. He connected with Josh Howard on an alley-oop layup 12 seconds into the game and found Dirk Nowitzki running the lane for a dunk in the second quarter.
The Mavs will be hoping for more of the same on Friday when they look to continue their domination of Memphis. They have won 14 straight games against the Grizzlies, covering the spread in eight of the last nine at the FedEx Forum.
Pick: Memphis
Denver at Chicago (+5, 208 1/2)
The Nuggets are one of the best offensive teams in the NBA and that should be enough to see them past a struggling Bulls lineup. Denver is averaging 107.0 points per outing, while Chicago has scored fewer than 100 points in three of its last four.
The Nuggets’ ability to rack up the points helped them past one of the hottest teams in the nation in their last game. They beat Boston 124-118 as a one-point home favorite on Tuesday. Carmelo Anthony had 29 points in that win, while Allen Iverson added 28 and that duo will prove too much for the Bulls.
The last time these teams met, Iverson and Anthony scored a combined 48 points in a 112-91 Nuggets win on Nov. 20. That was the eighth time in the last nine games between these teams that Denver covered the spread.
Pick: Denver